Thursday, November 15, 2007

I don't technically live in Winooski but I live close enough to it that almost all my food comes from Tiny Thai and Peking Duck House. With the weather so cold, I am practically living off quarts of Hot and Sour Soup.

Walking across the old bridge to the old Mill Town and staring off at the falls is one of my favorite evening pastimes. I like to think about all the people that have been living and working off of this river for centuries.

The ancient, formidable buildings stand as silent testaments to the people that have passed through Winooski over the years.My house is so old, it was most likely once housing for workers at one of these old mills which now houses a yoga studio, a hair salon and other independent businesses (but why, WHY no coffee shop!?).

Perhaps young single girls who trekked to this industrious town to make a meager living weaving and stitching once lived in the rooms I now inhabit? What did they think about when work was done? What were they dreaming of?I have always been fascinated with factory workers and complex, finely-tuned assembly lines. I loved being the man in the booth and projecting 35 mm film, fiddling with all the nuts and bolts and making the parts run smoothly without losing a body part.

When I asked Denise Baker of Cabot Hosiery Mills WHY she had been working there for 20 years, she stared at me, then laughed at me, then thought a bit and then said, "Because I like machines, as long as I am with my machines, I'm happy." I can relate.